Tubing catcher



' April 27, 1926. 1,582,200

G. D. WATSON TUBING CATCHER Filed August 29, 1925 4 Jzwenibfi Gear efi. Watson,

' jltorne s.

Patented Apr. 27, 1926.

TED-STA?! EZS irnrszutr oFii-rrcn.

DfWATS'ON, OF TORRANCEfCAIiIFOR'NILA.

TUBING CATCHER.

n mimtmnimen August 29, 1925. =Seria11N=o.. 53,321.

To all'whom it-mmgy-ooawern: Be it known that I, GEORGE D. W'nTsoN, a oitizen of the United States, residing at Torrance, fin ctheieounty of Los Angeles: and :State of-Galifornin, have invented \new :{Llld useful Improvements in 'lluhin'g' Catchers; of which the following is a specification. c

This invention relates to tubing-catchers.

provide ;a :tubinjg. oatcher which is simpleat construction, inenpmsive' of manufacture, .and which lispositiue in. its action,

in practicing ;-the invention 1 proNide 1a tubing catcher comprising:twonoramore {j aws awh-ioh are hinged together i so as =to he :relatively moveable, and which jaws .are adapted to he supportedwupon :a jaw actuat- Eing means. The :said jaweetuuting means :may :comprise a roller 01' coupling formed "with n {CH-X11 periphery wand adapted :to -con-,

meet lengthsoftubing. If the tubing should.

suddenly part, the jaws, due :to inertia, would remain :preetica'lly stationary 'While :the "jaw actuating 1 means associated with the tubing :by dropping rapidly will strike the awsyopening them :ou'tivardl-y for impinge ment vagainstithe'inneri surfaoeoi the ;casi1 1g. YWit-hthe ehoveobjeots an-cl-'-.otl1ers in VlEAV, including general superiority in use and service, the invention ueonsists inithe novel :and useful =-provision, formation, construction, association, and relative arrangement Offparts, members and features-212x11; as shown in certain .ofits-"emhodiments in the. aeeoin- .pan-ying drawing, described generally :and more particularly pointed out in the nlaims. :In :thedrawings Figure .1 is [an (elevation met the Iimproved atubing catcher associated gwith tuhnig land within well easing; the

said .tubing and easing being sin vertical seetioniand shown fragmentarily.

, rFigure Qis a cross-sectional vieweon the.

.line 2-2 of JFigureYB Figure?) is n View similar to :Figure :2,

end :showing op eration of -:the jaws of the tubing 'eateher, resulting upon drop off :the -.tubin g; p c c Figure {4: isn perspective Jvicw ofioneof the jaws of the tubing catcher; and

Figure 5 catcher.

Corresponding. parts inellrthefigures are designated lay .the --same -,referenee characi of which elements maylbe-usedi in practicing one .einhodimentof the invention.

lr-have shown at :0 a casingsuoh as an oil Well casing, gwithin whioh the tubing .eateher is .adaptedto he \received, and at d, welltuhing; such .as pump =.tuhing. lllhe tub- .is a plan iview-of .thetubing .ing i'eatcher A is usually {placed just above the pump, 1 although in the present instance the .t11bing catcher, or 'iseries of tubing cntchers, unay he placed at intervals throughout the: tubing length. The Jew Euctuating. means may include ;a-.collar iormed with .-a central screw-threaded bore '1, and whichrcollar acts .to connect together .ends of thetuhingul .as shown r-at Z'and 3. The said-tubing lengths -,.to-.this .end being screwthreaded for--,reoep.tionion'the screw-threads .l of such means I). .Thesaid fineans 5b is provided with -aioan1 surface. 4;, the said cam surface aheing preferably formed Joy beveling the periphery of the eeollar. The collar is provided with 1a zconcave vtop, .as shown ;at 5. .-In the present instance 1:;l2l2LV8 provided two jaws a, 1hoth -of which .in-

clude a semicircular head 6, a grip or slip 7, connected with .and associated with said vided with a cam surface 11. This cam surface is preferably a beveled one, being beveled inwardly from the top 12 of the slip to the base 13 thereof, relative to the outer surface of the grip. The head 6 is provided with a pair of diametrically disposed knuckles 13. As has been stated, the present invention contemplates the use of two jaws, and both jaws are similarly formed, one jaw, however, will have the knuckle portions adjacent the peripheral surface of the head thereof, for instance, the jaw shown in Fig. 4, while the second jaw will have the knuckle portions, designated as let, adjacent the inner curved surface 18 ofthe head. In other words, there are shoulders 15 formed as between the knuckles 14L and the outer surface of one of the jaws with the knuckles 13 fitted against such knuckles 14 and adjacent the shoulders 15. After so fitting the knuckles, pins 16 and 17 may be passed through the eyes of said knuckles to hold the jaws in co-operative hinged relation.

In actual use, assuming that the tubing catcher A is in position as shown in Figures 1 and 2, it will be seen that the inner curved surface 18, of each of the heads loosely surrounds the periphery of the pump tubing (Z, and that the covex base 9 of the head is carried upon the concave top of the collar. This construction assures that the tubing catcher heads will have the grips or slips thereof lying parallel with and out of con tact with, the inner surface of the casing 0. Thus the tubing cl, with the tubing catcher A may be inserted within 'well casing, or

withdrawn therefrom, without in any manner operating the tubing catcher. If for any reason the tubing should break or part the grips or slips 7 would immediately engage into the inner surface of the casing c, as shown in Figure 3, and step further downward movement of the tubing. This is true for the reason that the weight of the tubing, when it drops, causes the tubing to drop so rapidly that the jaws a, due to in ertia, will not obtain any acceleration due to the drop, with the result that the cam surface of the jaw'actuating means, cooperating with the cam surfaces of the slips, will move such slips outwardly, to cause the serrations on the slips to bite into the tubing. It is also evident that the tubing would be stopped from dropping, due to the wedge action that would exist between the jaw-actuating means and the grips or slips due to engagement of the cam surface thereof.

The very'simplicity of the tubing catcher lends itself admirably to different well practices with a minimum expense in providing such a catcher. Quite obviously the tubing may be moved up and down within the casing without in any manner actuating the tubing catcher. It is the sudden drop that causes the catcher to operate. In place of providing a given unit, complete in itself as tubing catcher, it is only necessary, in the present instance, to provide different sizes of jaw actuating means, depending upon the different sizes of. tubing used. Thus there would be delivered at a well derrick different sizes of jaw actuating means with one size of jaws.

It is obvious that various modifications and variations may be made in practicing the invention, in departure from the particular showing of the drawing, without departing from the true spirit thereof.

I claim: a

1. Improvements in tubing catchers adapted to be associated with well tubing, including jaw actuating means for coupling together lengths of said well tubing, and a pair of hingedly connected jaws directly supported by said jaw actuating means.

2. Improvements in tubing catchers adapted to be associated with well tubing, including jaw actuating means for coupling together lengths of said well tubing, and a pair of hingedly connected jaws supported by said jaw actuating means said jaw actuating means being provided with a cam surface for contact with the jaws to swing the jaws about their hinge centers, resultant upon sudden drop of the tubin 3. Improvements in tubing catchers adapted to be associated with well tubing, including a. jaw having a grip portion and a head associated therewith, said grip being formed with a cam surface; jaw actuating means associated with the head of the jaw and adapted to become disassociated therefrom to contact with the cam surface of the grip to move the grip resultant upon drop of the tubing.

41. Improvements in tubing catchers adapted to be associated with Well tubing, including a pair of jaws surrounding said well tubing, said jaws comprising grip members, arms joined to the grip members and heads associated with the arms, and jaw actuating means carried by the welltubing; said jaw heads normally being associated with the jaw actuating means to carry the said jaws.

5. Improvements in'tubing catchers adapted to be associated with well tubing, in-. cluding a pair of jaws surrounding said well tubing, said jaws comprising grip members, arms joined to the grip members and heads associated with the arms, and jaw actuating means carried by the well tubing; said jaw heads normally being associated with the jaw actuating means to carry the said jaws, and hinge means between'the said heads. 7

6. Improvements in tubing catchers adapted to be associated with well tubing, in cluding a pair of jaws surrounding said well tubing, said jaws comprising grip members,

arms joined tothe grip members and heads associated with the arms, and j aw actuating means carried by the well tubing; said jaw her having a concave top portion, and said heads being provided with convex shoulders adapted to cooperate with the concave top 10 portion. s I

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

GEORGE D. WATSON. 

